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The study aims to explore the role of reliance and brand image (goods-based and service-based) in risk perceptions related to business-to-business (B2B) purchases. In particular, time risk (TR), performance risk (PR) and financial risk (FR) has been explored in this paper.

A questionnaire-based survey data has been collected from 152 respondents from different industries, and the model was validated using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

The study highlights the importance of reliance and brand image for reducing the effects of perceived risk. While reliance is negatively related to all the risk dimensions, the relationship between reliance and FR is serially mediated by service-based brand image (SBBI) and TR. The same is also mediated by PR. Furthermore, PR and TR are positively related to FR.

The findings of this study highlight the importance of reliance and brand image for reducing the effects of risk dimensions. Reliance plays an important role in reducing all risk perceptions. Findings also highlight the importance of SBBI in reducing TR.

The findings provide managers with key insights for reducing risk perceptions by creating a strong reliance and B2B brand image, leading to long-term relationship strategies.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the few papers in B2B marketing that focuses on the importance of reliance and brand image in reducing the effects of perceived risk.

This study aims to explore the antecedents and consequences of reliance and its relationship with trust in the context of business-to-business (B2B) branding. The study also explores the above relationships in various B2B contexts.

Survey data of 135 respondents from different B2B firms was analyzed, and the proposed theoretical model was validated using partial least square structural equation modeling technique followed by multigroup analysis.

The results suggest that commitment, management capability and innovation capability are positively related with reliance, while trust acts as mediator between commitment–reliance relationships. Moreover, while both reliance and trust lead to B2B brand image, reliance has higher relationship strength. Furthermore, reliance mediates the trust–brand image relationship too.

The paper contributes to the literature of reliance and its role in B2B brand image by providing newer insights about the antecedents and consequences of reliance and its relationship with trust.

The findings provide managers with key insights for creating B2B brand image using reliance and trust by focusing on capabilities and commitment.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the few papers in B2B marketing which focuses on the antecedents of reliance and relative importance of trust and reliance.

This study aims to identify evolution and advancement in the field of business-to-business (B2B) loyalty knowledge area by analyzing its intellectual structure.

The authors use bibliometric analysis for quantitative evaluation of scholarly studies published on B2B loyalty area over a period of 27 years (1993–2020). The authors analyze intellectual knowledge base of B2B loyalty area by looking into 263 studies with 14,028 references authored by 693 researchers.

The results provide a comprehensive review of B2B loyalty area by identifying its foundations, influential works and intellectual communication linkage between these works. Notably, the analysis reveals most cited studies, key authors, important keywords, intellectual turning points and emerging trends of research in the discipline.

This study creates a baseline for presenting precise and comprehensive insights into research themes in B2B loyalty area, and identifies progressive trends over a period. This study is also helpful for researchers in identifying future directions of research in the discipline.

This study reveals the intellectual structure of B2B loyalty area.

Though extant literature has identified goods-based brand image (GBBI) and services-based brand image (SBBI) as drivers of business-to-business (B2B) loyalty, their relative importance has remained unexplored. This study aims to bridge this gap.

The authors have used a retrospective sampling-based methodology to collect data from B2B customers via an offline survey with a sample size of 125 purchase managers.

The authors found that both GBBI and SBBI have positive relationships with B2B loyalty, with customer satisfaction being the mediator. Using the construal level theory (CLT), the authors argue that the B2B purchase term, vendor–customer relationship strength and physical accessibility of the vendor are associated with the construal level of the purchase context. Further, the authors show that B2B customers give higher importance to GBBI in lower construal level and higher importance to SBBI in higher construal level. The authors have also found the moderated mediation effect of customer satisfaction in GBBI–loyalty and SBBI–loyalty relationships with construal level as moderator.

This study contributes to extant literature of B2B branding and purchase decision-making by bringing in concepts of CLT. It also extends the literature of the GBBI–SBBI–loyalty relationship by bringing in newer results, which reassure the coexistence of goods-dominant and service-dominant logic in the B2B marketplace.

Important managerial implications have been discussed to help B2B managers in brand building, product–service design and relationship management.

This paper is a pioneer in using the CLT in the B2B purchase contexts. It also provides a theoretical and psychological underpinning of goods–service dilemmas in the B2B context, which is also noble.